Page 77 of Vale of Dreams

Isink deeper into my bath, the water heating my skin. Moonlight spills through the towering windows, igniting the steam rising from the bath in coils of silver and red.

It’s late, and I should be asleep. Instead, I take a sip of champagne as I let my muscles relax. After Arwenna ran away from the banquet, I left and went in search of Nivene to fill her in on everything I’d learned at the high council.

Unfortunately, she wasn’t around. In fact, I haven’t been able to find her in days. I returned to my room, wrote everything up, and dropped it in our secret location.

But I wasn’t just looking for Nivene because of the report. After an evening of being poisoned and insulted, I desperately longed to see a friendly face. The loneliness in this place was starting to get to me.

Arwenna was right when she said I don’t belong here.

My muscles tighten and my breath stills at the sound of an opening door. My heart slams against my ribs, and I rise from the bath, frantically grasping for a towel. Arwenna has shown up to murder me. With a racing pulse, I wrap the towel around myself and ease up a loose tile on the floor, grabbing the knife I’ve hidden within. Arwenna won’t find me as harmless as she thinks.

“Nia?” a deep, velvety voice says from the other room. “Where are you?”

I let out a long exhalation and quickly return the knife to its hiding spot. “Talan? To what do I owe this visit?”

“To the fact that we are lovers and can’t stay away from each other for even a moment. I know you miss gazing adoringly at my face, and I couldn’t deprive you of the pleasure.”

“Right.” I clutch the towel tightly around myself and peer out into my room.

Talan has already draped himself in one of my chairs and pulled a book into his lap. His gaze flicks up at me. “I didn’t expect to find you naked, which is an interesting surprise. You did know I was coming, didn’t you?”

I clutch my towel. “Do you ever wonder what you might be like if you weren’t born grotesquely wealthy, beautiful, and surrounded by people catering to your every whim?”

“Perhaps I’d be knee-deep in rotten onion dirt, thinking fondly of the halcyon days when apples grew. If only fate had dealt me such a hand.”

“You might have developed an amenable personality.”

“Sounds tedious.”

I didn’t bring any fresh clothes into the bathroom with me, so I’m forced to step into the room in my towel. As I walk to the dresser, I can feel his eyes upon me, though I assume an air of nonchalance. My wet hair drips down my back and shoulders, dampening the towel, and I yank open a drawer and grab the first pair of underwear and nightgown I can find. As I head back to the bathroom, I see Talan pour himself some wine. He’s making himself at home.

Closing the bathroom door behind me, I discover that I’ve grabbed a sheer nightgown and a pair of skimpy underwear with black lace around the waist. The nightgown is also black and utterly transparent, revealing my nipples through the sheer fabric.

Scanty or not, when I walk out of here, I have to look totally relaxed and at ease with everything on display. I take a deep breath and imagine that I’m fully dressed in jeans and a T-shirt.

Opening the bathroom door, I find Talan sitting on my bed, shirtless.

I focus on keeping my shoulders relaxed, my expression serene. But it’s not what I feel.

Here’s what they don’t teach you in Fey culture lessons when we practice being at ease with our bodies. They don’t teach you how it will feel to walk out half-naked in front of possibly the most powerful Fey in the kingdom, a prince who strikes absolute terror into the hearts of everyone around him. Or how hard it is to think straight when he’s half-naked, too, with a body that is perfection itself. Because my brain knows that he’s a monster, but my pulse is still reacting to the sinuous tattoos of willow branches that stretch across his finely-cut muscles. I’ve never practiced how it would feel to walk out like this before a heart-stoppingly beautiful man whose eyes darken at the sight of me.

His jaw tightens, and that eerie Fey stillness overcomes his body. His deep, silken voice seems to ring in my skull?—

I would drag you into the night’s dark embrace with me and bring you to the edge…

Candlelight flickers over his powerful body. My pulse races as he drags his gaze from me and stands, removing his belt in one smooth movement.

I slide onto the other side of the bed and pull up the covers around me. “You’re not planning on sleeping in my bed naked, are you?”

He rolls over, propping his chin on his palm. “And there’s my tightly-wound mistress again. You were starting to seem almost relaxed for a moment, and I wondered where the real Nia had gone. But don’t worry, I will keep my shorts on.”

For a moment, my gaze dips to his lips, full and slightly curved. Disturbingly sensual. “Good.”

“I suspect you’re more worried about your own self-control than mine.” His silken voice thrums over my skin. “You did just call me beautiful.”

“Did I? Well, enough chitchat. I need my sleep.” He really brings out the uptight peevishness in me, though oddly, I suspect he likes it.

I steal a quick look at his powerful chest and pull the covers more tightly around me.

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